


Luke and Han Don’t Make it Back

by astrandofthread



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Force-Sensitive Leia Organa, Hoth (Star Wars), Jedi Leia Organa, Leia Organa-centric, Minor Leia Organa/Han Solo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:35:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22306534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrandofthread/pseuds/astrandofthread
Summary: Opens on Hoth after Han goes to search for Luke in the falling temperatures. Thing is, several days later, they’re both still gone.
Relationships: Leia Organa/Han Solo
Comments: 5
Kudos: 22





	1. Decisions

**Author's Note:**

> Had this idea a while ago and my go-to nerd friend encouraged me to write it and pre read it for me. Thanks Brian.

Why did bay doors have to be so damn loud. 

Every night at sunset, the creaking, screeching metal doors slammed into the icy ground of the base. Every night at sunset, Leia was given a deafening reminder that her friends were still out there, lost in the cold sea of white. 

Her boys were smart enough. Han had almost certainly been in trickier situations than this one, considering his past and career choices. Luke, on the other hand... Luke may have been a good shot, but he was still just a young farmboy from nowhere. Roaming around a desert blasting womp rats couldn’t have prepared him to survive in a foreign tundra full of strange creatures. 

Leia turned away from the scraping metal of the bay doors, fighting the urge to cover her ears. Her spine stiffened and her head held high, she strode past search pilots as they disembarked from their ships. Each one was sobered by defeat, as usual. 

Murmured conversations along the lines of: “It’s completely frozen..” “It’s been three days..” “If they’re even out there....” all cut off abruptly as Leia walked by. A few pilots started to call out to the princess, but her stern face, firmly set in a neutral (if slightly off-putting) expression, managed to ward them off. 

_They’re capable. They’re trained for survival out there, they’ve been adapting to this hellhole ever since we landed. They both have their mounts, they both have weapons. Han left with an emergency shelter with room for the both of them. They’d both be safe in there for days. If they were together. If Han had found Luke. If there was anything left of Luke to find- ___

__“Mistress Leia?” a proper voice interrupted Leia’s thoughts._ _

__“What is it, Threepio?” she replied, turning to meet the artificial eyes of the droid. C-3PO’s metal figure seemed wilted, as it had for the past few nights. His astromech companion, R2, was alongside him as usual. R2 was silent, which was anything but usual. He rolled along quietly at the golden protocol droid’s feet as the duo approached Leia._ _

__“R2-D2 has informed me that Commander Solo and Master Luke’s chance of survival has again declined,” Threepio began in a somber tone. “Due to the rapidly falling temperatures and length of their absence, the men’s inner workings are most likely near frozen, and their supplies must be considerably depleted. Given these circumsta- are you alright, Mistress?”_ _

__Leia became suddenly aware of the tears welling in her eyes and freezing to her lashes._ _

__“I’m fine, Threepio. The cold’s just stinging my eyes.” She wiped at the tears with a gloved hand, her fingers brushing over the dark circles that drooped under her eyes._ _

__“Yes, well, given the circumstances, General Rieekan is requesting your presence to discuss further action,” C-3PO finished. A low, somber, chirp sounded from R2-D2. C-3PO turned in surprise to his counterpart._ _

__“Thank you, Threepio,” Leia replied, cutting off the beginning of a sharp remark from C-3PO to the little R2 unit. “I’ll meet with him right away.”_ _

__“You ought to be ashamed of yourself, talking that way!” she heard as she walked away. “They’ll be back before you know it, and in one piece! You’ll see!” The protocol droid continued to huff and shame his counterpart as Leia hurried away, towards her private quarters. The general could wait, she decided as her throat tightened. She bit her lip as she quickly walked through the maze of hallways, carved into the ice and snow of the planet. Sighing with relief as her door came into view, Leia reached up to press the access button to the room._ _

__“Princess?” Leia’s hand fell to her side._ _

__“Yes, General Rieekan?” she replied, turning to face the familiar figure. Rieekan’s eyes were kind, but his worn face showed what he had endured. Streaked with worry lines and topped with greying hair, the general’s visage pointed to the misfortunes of his life. He had served in many wars and witnessed much bloodshed before losing his entire planet to the Empire. He and Leia were united in this, as two of the few survivors left of Alderaan. Leia knew the man like a father, and she could easily read the pity in his face._ _

__“It’s been three days, Princess,” he began. Leia’s heart sank. “We plan to keep searching for as long as we can, but given the conditions outside and how weak the base is...” he trailed off._ _

__“I know they’re out there.” Leia replied firmly. “We can’t give up hope after a few days, they’re two of our best men. Have the search pilots found any signs of life?”_ _

__“No, Princess. Just a creature’s den and some remains.” Leia’s eyes widened and he quickly explained. “Not human. But they look like Tauntaun bones. If Skywalker and Solo are out there, at least one of them has no mode of transportation, and you know what the land is like here.”_ _

__“That Tauntaun could have been wild, or escaped. And besides, those men aren’t easily beat. They can handle themselves without a mount.”_ _

__“Princess, it’s fifty below freezing out there.”_ _

__“I’m aware, General.”_ _

__“We’re doing all we can, but we have to be realistic.”_ _

__“I am being realistic, I know them! I know what they’re capable of-“_ _

__“Princess, I’m only asking that you consider-“_ _

__Rieekan was cut off by a sudden sob from the Princess._ _

__“Leia...” he began. She blushed, attempting to hide her face in her hands. Rieekan gently placed a hand on her shoulder as tears began to stream down her chilled face._ _

__“They-“ she started, but choked on her words before she could continue. Her throat tightened with grief, along with anger at showing her own weakness._ _

__“Keep some hope, Leia.” Rieekan said. “We’re not giving up yet.”_ _

__“Yet?”_ _

__He sighed._ _

__“We’re sending out another search party tomorrow morning. With any luck, we’ll find them. And if not...” he trailed off as Leia’s eyes flashed at him with anger._ _

__“We’ll go from there, Princess.”_ _


	2. The Final Search

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After overseeing the planning of the next rescue mission, Leia finds herself seemingly disrespected. After confronting this issue, she is faced with a much more jarring one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! I know I haven’t updated in a while, but I got some inspiration and I’m back at it. I hope you enjoy!

The docking bay felt like a hive. An incredibly cramped, suffocating hive. Soldiers buzzed around, donning their helmets and preparing for flight. The whirring and chirping of machinery, droids and ships alike, was constant. The shouts of rushed men echoed off of the icy walls as they hurriedly checked over and boarded their vehicles. In near unison, the sea of hatches closed and the din stopped, replaced by the roar of engines as row after row of ships raised off of the ground and sped out into the snowy white abyss. Leia watched as the machines raced away, slowly faded into grey dots, and eventually were lost to the horizon. The men were gone, and she was left alone in the cavernous bay of ice. 

She took a moment to relish the silence. The past day had been overwhelming. The night before, she had been working long past the standard lights out, overseeing plans for the next rescue attempt. Rieekan had been wary of Leia’s decision to take direct control over the rescue, but the princess decisively swore upon her ability to put her own emotions on the mission aside. Which she managed to do, for as long as she was actively working on the plans. After the work was over and she returned to her quarters, however, she was unable to do so. She spent the whole of the night tossing and turning. She was shivering in her own quarters. And if she was cold, how did Luke and Han feel, outside and with no shelter? 

Her ruminatation was cut short by a sudden realization that she was losing feeling in her fingers. She crossed her arms, forcing her hands into the relative warmth of her sides, and turned to leave the bay.

“Mistress Leia, you appear to be nearly freezing!“ 

Leia looked up to the nearest entrance to the docking bay. C-3PO was tottering through it as he called out to her in his usual uptight voice. 

“Do come inside, Mistress. R2 and I have been looking all over for you.” 

R2-D2 emerged from behind his golden counterpart and began to speed towards Leia, before slipping on a patch of ice and being thrown off course. 

“I’m fine, Threepio. Do the two of you need me for something?” Leia said, hurrying to R2 to check him for damage. 

“No, Mistress, but we have been asked to check on you.” Threepio replied. 

Leia paused from her check over of the astromech, who was beeping indignantly at the frank overreaction. 

“Asked to check on me? By who?” 

“General Rieekan, Mistress. He’s quite concerned about you, he is of the belief that the absences of Masters Luke and Han are having a profound effect on you.”

“Is that so?” Leia replied. “Where is the general now?”

“He was leaving from his private quarters the last I saw of him, but-“

Leia marched away before the droid could finish. 

“Mistress Leia? I don’t believe that the general wishes to-“

“I’ll find out what the general wants for myself, thank you Threepio.” Leia interrupted, before bursting into the halls of the base. She didn’t make it far in, however, before running into Rieekan himself. 

“Princess Leia, I was just looking for you.” the man said warmly, before noticing the stern look on Leia’s face. “Leia, have I offended?”

“I don’t need you sending droids to monitor me, General. I can handle myself just fine.” she said. 

“Leia, I only meant to have C-3PO check in on you briefly, I didn’t mean anything behind it.”

Leia scoffed. 

“I take it he didn’t handle the matter delicately?” the General asked. 

“No, not quite.”

“I see.” Rieekan sighed. “Leia, this is a difficult situation. I didn’t mean to be overbearing, I just know that this must be very much for you to handle.”

“General, I have dealt with loss before. If this situation comes to that, it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“I know, Leia. I know.” Rieekan smiled gently. “I trust you to take care of yourself. I shall leave you be.”

“Thank you, General.” Leia nodded respectfully and turned to leave. 

“But Leia?” Leia looked back. 

“Yes, General?” she replied. 

“I will be here for support, should you choose to take it.”

Leia smiled faintly. 

“Thank you, General.”

Scarcely having finished her sentence, Leia looked back towards the docking bay as she heard a faint mechanical roar growing louder and closer. 

“They’ve just left, what is the search team doing coming back so soon?” Leia said. 

“I don’t know, unless...” Rieekan trailed off. 

Leia’s eyes widened. She raced to the docking bay as the cavalry of ships returned to their nesting places. She raced between ships as Rieekan struggled to keep up behind her. Could this be it? She’d been waiting for what felt like an eternity, and her boys could be back with her in that very docking bay. She knew it. She knew they could handle themselves. They were some of the most durable men she knew, a little ice couldn’t beat them. She was almost laughing with joy as she looked around the room. 

She suddenly caught sight of a pilot exiting his ship. 

“You there, Rogue Two. Where are they, have you found them?” she asked as the man struggled to remove his helmet. 

When the helmet was gone, Leia was met with somber eyes, barely meeting her own. 

“General Rieekan, can I speak with you?” the pilot replied, not looking at Leia. 

Leia backed away, numb, as Rieekan slowly approached the pilot. 

The pilot leaned in towards the General, and the two shared a whispered conversation that Leia could not understand. Then the pilot hung his head. Rieekan did the same, then, after a moment, turned back to meet Leia’s eyes. 

She could read his face in an instant. And her numbness exploded into pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! I hope you enjoyed, and, as always, I love feedback.
> 
> Don’t know what to comment? Try this:  
> -What did you like?  
> -What didn't you like?  
> -What do you want to see?  
> -Did something make you laugh?
> 
> Comments are the best way to tell me that you like the story! (or didn't)
> 
> -AO3 recently made a change and unregistered users aren't showing their hits, so please leave a comment or a kudos so I know you read it!
> 
> Thank you for reading! Stay safe out there! 
> 
> May the Force be with you,  
> \- Meg

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Comments are always welcome, and may the Force be with you!
> 
> -Meg


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